Abstract
Digital transformation projects have a failure rate of 66% to 84%, costing U.S. companies billions of dollars each year. Organizational leaders need to understand the implications of these costly failures, leading to substantial financial losses. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive phenomenological study was to explore the reasons for digital transformation project failures from the perspective of the lived experiences of U.S. project managers. The conceptual framework consisted of Lewin's 3-stage change management model, Correani et al.'s digital transformation implementation model, Herzberg's 2-factor theory of motivation-hygiene, and von Bertalanffy's systems theory. The participants were 13 U.S. active, certified professional project managers with at least 5 years of experience, who had completed two or more U.S. digital transformation and Walden Library (EBSCO). Additionally, I used Google Scholar to locate open-access articles. To limit the search for articles relevant to this study, keywords used included the following: digital transformation, challenged me to think critically and strengthened the quality of my work. The amazing and relatable stories that always brought laughter to our phone calls kept me moving forward. I am a better student and person because of his mentorship. I also thank my committee member, Dr. Thomas Butkiewicz, for his thoughtful feedback and expertise, which enriched this study. I extend my sincere appreciation to the project managers who participated in this research. Their willingness to share their experiences made this work possible and provided invaluable perspectives on the challenges of digital transformation projects. Most of all, I am indebted to my family. To my mother, for showing me the power of resilience and determination. To my daughters, for their sacrifices, guidance, and unwavering support. To my granddaughters, for inspiring me to show that the women in our family can achieve anything. To my sister and niece, for their constant encouragement. To my amazing friends who continually told me I could finish this education journey. This accomplishment belongs to all of us. i The United States alone will spend over $1 trillion in 2025 on global digital transformation (Veith, 2023) . Estimated global digital transformation spending will reach $3.4 trillion in the year 2026 (Veith, 2023) . However, 66% to 84% of digital transformation projects fail (Koczerga, 2024; Oludapo et al., 2024; Zhang et al., 2022) .
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